“If you find a single calm head teacher as the holidays approach, give me his number”, ironically Mathieu Rocher, director of the hospital group of Haguenau. Indeed, the emergency services are not the only ones expecting to overheat this summer.
A few weeks ago, the commotion began in hospitals to prepare for the summer period. “I’m very scared, I really don’t know how we’re going to hold on”says Cécile Vigneau, head of the nephrology department at the University Hospital of Rennes, and member of the Inter-hospital Collective.
To try not to sink, a majority of hospitals are already deciding to close beds: 600 out of 2,600 at the Bordeaux University Hospital, and more than 50 at the Haguenau hospital center, or 15% of its capacity. According to a recent survey by the French Hospital Federation (FHF), carried out among 400 establishments, 57% of hospital centers (CH) and 85% of CHUs now use temporary bed closures. “It is much more important than in previous years”warns Cécile Vigneau.
Absenteeism on the rise
This is the consequence of the serious lack of personnel in the sector. And if the FHF survey points out that the workforce increased slightly between 2019 and 2021, this surplus “did not reduce the proportion of vacancies” orderlies and even more nurses. Moreover, almost all (99%) of establishments are experiencing difficulties in recruiting paramedical staff. In university hospitals, surgery and operating theaters are particularly concerned, while in hospitals, it is daily care that suffers the most: medicine, emergency, psychiatry.
We must also combine with high absenteeism – “9.9%, one point more than in 2019 and 2.5 points more than in 2012” – of this profession exhausted by two years of epidemic. Thus, this year, the hospitals are trying somehow to sanctuary the holidays of the teams. With 25% fewer staff, “we are going to be ric-racwarns Pascal Gouin, director of CH Auxerre, it hangs by a thread”.
So in addition to cutting back on beds, several incentive measures are put in place to invite staff to leave after the start of the school year. Saint-Brieuc hospital, for example, offers €350 per week to nurses and caregivers who agree to postpone their holidays after September 15.
Support delay
In Haguenau, the time slots have been adapted: “Staff who wish can go from five 7:30 a.m. days to three 12-hour days. It’s more flexible, but it’s not possible in all departments, like in geriatrics,” says Mathieu Rocher. The objective: spare as much as possible the already overworked staff, while 97% of health establishments resort to overtime. For Cecile Vigneau, “everything must be done to avoid ending up disgusting the staff who risk leaving as early as September”.
A very fragile balance therefore, which could very quickly change if the epidemic resumption of Covid-19 which is starting in France were to be prolonged. “We keep in mind the possibility of a rebound, but we cross our fingers so that, as in recent waves, the hospital does not suffer too much”, hopes Mathieu Rocher. The first effects on the health system of the thousands of daily contaminations are already being felt: hospitalizations have increased by 25% over the last seven days. Critical care admissions increased by 11% over the same period.
In any case, the consequences for users are already inevitable. At the Rennes University Hospital, some postponements of dialysis are to be expected, regrets the nephrologist. And patients risk being prevented from traveling too far from home, with most centers refusing to take holidaymakers. “It’s a vital activity that we won’t be able to fully carry out this summer. The organization has its limits. » Especially since by closing beds, the pressure will fall… on the emergency room. “It will create a waterlogging while they are already under water, alert Cécile Vigneau. The summer will be very hot. »
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